Large building systems utilize numerous interconnected devices which together act to control a particular function within the building. Fire safety systems and HVAC systems are two examples of building control systems that are commonly found in modern facilities. Fire safety systems typically include various interconnected building control devices, such as smoke detectors, pull levers, audio alarms, visual alarms, valves and other devices that collectively provide for fire safety within the building. Similarly, HVAC systems include building control devices such as thermostats, heaters, air conditioners, vents, humidifiers and other devices that are used to control temperature and environment within a building. These large building systems typically employ data networks to transmit information, to one or more “control” locations in which alarm status and other system status information may be monitored.
While building control systems are interconnected to form a unit once the building is complete, the various devices and components of such building control systems can not be installed at the same time during construction of the facility. In particular, the various components of each building control system are typically installed piecemeal, over time, with installation of the components in various building zones dependent upon the completion of other construction in such zones.
In view of the piecemeal installation process, a typical job site problem time crunch evolves from the fact that the building control system devices and related equipment does not get installed, debugged & commissioned until very late in a building project. For example, with respect to fire safety systems, the fire safety system is slowly built up over time as technicians gain access to portions of a building to work or as hardware is received from the factory. As a result, only small portions of the fire safety system can be tested at a time. The full run-time logical interaction of the fire safety system can not be tested & evaluated until all hardware is installed. Historically this tends to be a final obstacle for obtaining a certificate of occupancy (temporary or permanent). Quite often in large installations performance problems & logical design errors are not found until the full system test can start. At that point, resolving them can be costly and result in time delays as well as contract fines/penalties.
In view of the above, it would be advantageous to provide a method for testing an entire building control system for a particular facility before installation is complete at the job site. It would also be advantageous if such a method for testing a building control system could be used on the job site during the installation process, thus allowing problems with the logical design or system software to be resolved as early as possible, and allowing a maximum amount of time for investigation and resolution of such problems.